JPMorgan, Cisco Sink DJIA on Wednesday

April 5, 2017: Markets opened higher Wednesday after a strong report on private-sector payrolls from ADP. The afternoon release of the FOMC minutes took a little of the steam out of stocks, sending the Nasdaq Composite below the break-even point and the other two major indexes slipped to a loss very late in the day. WTI crude oil for May delivery settled at $51.15 a barrel, up just 12 cents on the day. June gold dropped 0.8% on the day to settle at $1,248.50. Equities were headed for a lower close shortly before the bell as the DJIA traded down 0.07% for the day, the S&P 500 traded down 0.18%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded down 0.44%.

All three major indexes traded very near the break-even line just minutes before the closing bell. The closing tally could finish with either a small gain or a small loss for any or all of the indexes.

The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage gain ahead of the close Wednesday was JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) which traded down 1.19% at $86.27. The stock’s 52-week range is $57.05 to $93.98. Volume was about 10% below the daily average of around 15.9 million shares. The big bank had no specific news.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) traded down 1.08% at $33.05. The stock’s 52-week range is $25.81 to $34.53. Volume was about 40% below the daily average of around 20 million. The company had no specific news.

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) traded down 0.68% at $173.33. The stock’s 52-week range is $142.50 to $182.79. Volume was about 35% above the daily average of around 3.7 million shares. The company had no specific news.

The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) traded down 0.66% at $227.75. The stock’s 52-week range is $138.20 to $255.15. Volume was 15% above the daily average of around 3.8 million shares. The investment bank had no specific news Wednesday.

Of the Dow 30 stocks, 14 are on track to close higher Wednesday and 16 are set to close lower.